Energy Quest, COFAMM to built Romania facility

By Erin Voegele

Web exclusive posted Sept. 5, 2008 at 10:16 a.m. CST

Nevada-based Energy Quest Inc. announced Sept. 2 that it has signed a letter of intent with Romentino, Italy-based recycling machine manufacturer CO.F.A.M.M. to enter into a definitive purchase agreement for the construction and installation of a 500 ton per day municipal solid waste gasification plant in Romania, which will generate 20 megawatts of power.

Energy Quest will provide the proprietary technologies, equipment and project management for the facility. COFAMM will provide a solution to sort municipal solid waste, providing refuse derived fuel as a feedstock.

The total cost of the gasification and power generation part of the facility will be approximately $56 million. The commercial layout of the plant will consist of four modular gasification units, each generating 6 megawatts of power.

Once the joint venture agreement is signed, the facility will take approximately one year to construct. According to Ron Foster, Energy Quest's secretary and treasurer, construction is expected to being in October, with the facility beginning to produce electricity in August 2009.

"We are pleased to have secured this opportunity with COFAMM," said Wilf Ouellette, president and chief executive officer of Energy Quest. "This project will be the first Energy Quest installation of its gasification to power systems with COFAMM and looking forward with the prospect of others. We expect this venture to pave the way for additional mutually beneficial opportunities with COFAMM."

COFAMM's waste sorters can be configured in several ways depending on the material variations from country to country, the cost of energy, the cost of labor and other parameters. The sorting line can separate steel and nonferrous materials, paper and cardboard, aluminum and steel cans, plastic film, HDPE and PET bottles, as well as refuse derived fuel, reducing the amount of material entering a landfill by approximately 75 percent.